Air permit another step toward possible Wishbone Hill coal mine

SUTTON — As Usibelli Coal Mine moves slowly toward a decision regarding whether to mine for coal at Wishbone Hill, the state is accepting comments on one of the permits the company needs to advance.

An air quality permit application is before the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation. It covers the proposed mine’s proposed wash plant, which is where dirt and debris are removed from the coal so that a more pure product can be sent to customers. DEC has issued a preliminary approval, which, Usibelli spokeswoman Lorali Simon said, is really just the first step; an indication that the application is complete.

It’s also a small piece of the overall project.

“This minor air quality permit, it specifically is for our wash plant, but we already have a permit to mine coal so we could start mining coal tomorrow at Wishbone Hill if we wanted to,” Simon said.

Without the permit, the mine would have to wash the coal elsewhere.

Wishbone Hill sits between Palmer and Sutton just off the Glenn Highway. Usibelli has been exploring the possibility of bringing mining back to the area, which historically has produced coal. If mined, the coal would be sold to a Japanese company and shipped out of the Mat-Su Borough’s Port MacKenzie.

Opinions from neighbors of the mine are mixed. A very vocal group, including the Chickaloon Village Traditional Council, has expressed opposition, worrying about property values decreasing in the area, pollution to nearby water bodies, noise, blasting and truck traffic.

On the other side there are residents who favor the mine for the jobs it will produce both at the mine and in serving the mine or its workers.

For its part, Usibelli has said mining can proceed with minimal impact to the environment and that every effort will be made to take neighbors’ concerns into account.

So far, Usibelli has done exploratory work and started putting in a road to its mining leases. The company also has been working on the various permits.

Simon said this particular permit took some work on the mine’s part. It required very technical air modeling data that took multiple teams of consultants to put together.

Usibelli submitted an application this past spring, but later pulled it from consideration. She said the application was complete, but the state requested more information.

“Our consultants have gone back and forth with the state a number of times on this modeling data,” Simon said. “It got to the point where in order to have a more clean application, a cleaner submission, we’re asking them to withdraw that first application.”

So the new application was submitted this summer. While the preliminary approval isn’t the end of it, it’s still a big step, she said.

“For us it’s a huge deal in that it starts the clock,” Simon said.

For the next month DEC will accept comments, then for another month the department will review the application and finally issue its decision.

“Especially since we submitted the one application last spring we’ve been working on this for a long time,” Simon said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.